An Egyptian construction magnate and parliamentarian Hesham Talaat Moustafa have been sentenced to death by a court in Cairo for the murder of Lebanese singer Suzanne Tamim in Dubai.
The former chairman of the Talaat Moustafa Group and a prominent ruling party politician, had been accused of paying security man Muhsen el-Sukkari $2 million to stab Tamim to death at her house in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates on July 28.
Sukkari was also sentenced to death in the case, and the men's files were referred to Egyptian religious authorities for review, as normal in capital cases in Egypt. The pair can also appeal to Egypt's high court.
The arrest of Moustafa in September after weeks of speculation about the case hit shares of Talaat Moustafa, Egypt's largest listed developer by market value, although they had since recovered.
The shares plunged over 16 per cent at the market's open today on shock about the unexpected severity of the verdict.
The indictment had accused Sukkari of killing Tamim after tricking her into opening the door of her Dubai apartment by posing as a representative of the building owners. He then attacked her with a knife.
Egyptian media reports have said that Sukkari worked as a security officer at the Four Seasons Hotel in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, which the Talaat Moustafa Group built.
The indictment accused Moustafa, who was stripped of his parliamentary immunity before the trial, of participating in the crime through "incitement, agreement and assistance."
The evidence included tape recordings of telephone calls between Moustafa and Sukkari, security video footage from the Dubai apartment and DNA from the bloodied clothes that Sukkari was accused of leaving close to the scene of the crime.
Moustafa, who was born in 1959, gave up the chairmanship of the Talaat Moustafa Group to his brother Tarek. Tamim, who died at the age of 30, rose to fame after winning the top prize in a television show in 1996.
The Egyptian judiciary tried the case because Egyptian law does not allow the extradition of Egyptian citizens to face trial in other countries.
Reuters